John 2:3. “When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’”

In our story from John, Mary speaks a truth about our lives, a truth that at some point we all experience: a day comes when the wine gives out. Our glasses will be empty; the party will be over. Life will seem empty and dry—no vibrancy or vitality, nothing growing or fermenting within us.

Mary’s words hold before us some serious questions and wonderings about where the wine of our life has run out, which relationships have run dry, what hidden parts inside of us remain empty. Each of us could tell a story about the day our wine gave out.

When the wine runs out, we may be tempted to look for a substitute by working harder, doing more, or just throwing out our glass and jug altogether. Running out of wine is not the failure, the disaster, the shameful calamity, or the tragic end we often believe it to be. Rather, running out of wine is a beginning and makes straight the way for miracles to happen.

*Originally written for and published by Forward Day by Day.